1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to rectifiers that each project from a front fender of an automobile, and in particular, a rectifier that prevents airflow flowing outward in a vehicle width direction from a cowl between a hood and a front shield from creating turbulence around a front pillar.
2. Related Art
The vehicle body of an automobile such as a car typically has both ends of the front shield, which is made of glass and installed at the front of the vehicle compartment, supported by pillar members called front pillars (A pillars).
Airflow called traveling wind is created around the vehicle body when the vehicle travels, and the traveling wind flows from the center to the side ends of the front shield and creates turbulence such as tumble flows around the front pillars. This causes an aerodynamic noise such as a so-called wind noise, and degrades the quietness, feel of the material, comfort, and the like of the vehicle.
As a conventional technique of improving the quietness of a vehicle by rectifying traveling wind around the A pillars, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2011-255758 describes that an outer molding having a molded part which covers a side end of a windshield (front shield) is mounted on the surface of a front pillar.
Meanwhile, JP-A No. 2014-69611 describes that a passage in a predetermined shape through which air flows is formed between a front pillar and a pillar outer cover attached to the outside of the front pillar on the purpose of improving the aerodynamic performance of the region around the front pillar.
A vehicle that has a front hood in front of the vehicle compartment includes a cowl between the back edge of the front hood and the front shield for storing the windshield wiper blades and the like.
The cowl is typically a recessed part lower than the back edge of the front hood in the up-down direction of the vehicle, and formed over substantially the entire width of the lower end of the front shield.
A vehicle including this type of cowl lets airflow from the front into the cowl, and airflow flowing from the center to the left and right sides in the cowl flows backward over the fenders at the side ends of the cowl in the vehicle width direction. The airflow is involved in tumble flows behind the front pillars, thereby increasing the wind noise behind the front pillars in some cases.
It is desirable to provide a rectifier that prevents airflow flowing outward in a vehicle width direction from a cowl between a hood and a front shield from creating turbulence around a front pillar.